So You've Got Drabbles
by nerdyfanchick
Summary: Drabble-y side stories for my So You've Got Feelings 'verse.
1. Sucks for the Janitor

_okay so i thought that it wasnt fair that only ao3 readers were getting these sidefics, so im posting them here too. mostly spamano, mostly silly and fluffy, please enjoy_

 _this one happens during their freshman year, and it's significant because its the first time Lovino and Antonio use "Tomato Bastard" and "Lovi",_ _respectively_

* * *

A single bead of sweat worked it's way down Antonio's face. _Pulled pork on spoon?_ _Check_. _Correct angle for launch? Check_. _Franny still sleeping?_ Antonio couldn't help the small smile on his face, _Check_. He took a deep breath, then released the top of the spoon, aaaaaaaand...

"Unglaublich!" Julchen whine-yelled as the food landed perfectly in Francis' hair, "How do you keep doing that?"

Antonio grinned and shrugged, before urging, "Shhhhhh, if you wake him up then we'll have to stop playing."

Julchen rolled her eyes and focused on deliberating what to catapult next.

They were competing to see who could make the most of their leftover scraps land on Francis; partially because he was asleep during lunch _again_ , after he _promised_ that he wouldn't anymore, partially because they were bored, but mostly because they knew (from experience) that Francis wouldn't realize that his clothes and hair had bits of food in/on them for at least twenty minutes, and it was hilarious to watch him freak out when he noticed.

"Okay Tonio, watch and learn," Julchen smirked, readying a spoonful of _gravy._

"Uh, Jules, are you sure that that's a good idea?" Gravy was light. Last time they tried flinging gravy, it had ended up on the wall, and they'd almost gotten caught.

She waved his concern away with a click of her tongue, "C'mon Tonio, I got this. Have a little faith in the awesome me!"

And then she let go of the top of the spoon by accident.

And the goopy, grey gravy flew _two tables away_ and splattered all over _Chun-Yan Wang's back._

" _Scheisse_."

If it had been anyone else, then Antonio wouldn't have been surprised if Julchen _had_ done it on purpose-a food fight _had_ been on the list of "Totally awesome high school movie cliche stuff that we _have_ to do before we graduate, come one guys, it'll be _awesome_!", after all-but everyone knew that if you did anything to the tiny asian girl, then you'd have to deal with Anya Braginskaya, and not even Julchen had that low a regard for danger.

 _Well,_ Antonio thought as the most terrifying person ever stood up and slowly walked towards them, _At least I lived a good life._

"Are we having issues, comrades?" Anya asked in her mockingly sweet voice, "Perhaps I can assist you."

Then she hurled _a whole burger_ at Julchen, and admittedly, Antonio was ecstatic that she hadn't thrown it at him, and Julchen dodged it by flinging herself to the ground, almost giving herself a concussion in the process, and the burger was left to hit Elizaveta square in the back of the head.

There was a tense moment where it could've gone either way. Elizaveta could've let it go; she could've hit Julchen upside the head, smiled politely at Braginskaya, and gone back to her own lunch without any issues. But, unfortunately, Elizaveta couldn't stand to be one-upped by Julchen, and having a food fight _was_ on Julchen's list, so when Julchen yelled "Food fight!", Elizaveta was the first person to overturn her tray.

Right onto Julchen's still-not-upright head.

From then it was chaos, since apparently everyone was all for the food fight. Antonio felt several unidentified food objects hit his back with a force that meant that it had to be Braginskaya, and he vaguely wished that he had friends who made enemies with less powerful arms.

But there was no time for regrets when people were literally slinging trash everywhere. Antonio managed to drop to the ground before someone's PB&J sandwich could hit his face, and he instantly realized that the ground was probably that safest place to be. Well, unless you were Julchen, because she and Elizaveta were still locked in their own mini food war, and the table that Julchen was hiding under gave her little to no cover from the onslaught.

But maybe Julchen had the right idea.

Antonio continued to crawl on the ground, occasionally getting hit by something but mostly staying safe, until he ran into someone.

"Ow, damn it, watch where the fuck you're going, bastard."

"Lovino!" Antonio instantly brightened, almost hitting his head on the table above them in his haste to look up. "Lovino, I didn't know you had this lunch!"

Lovino looked away from Antonio, his scowl deepening, and growled something under his breath before turning his glare back on the Spaniard. "Yeah, well, I do. And now I have to suffer through this shit that your dumb potato started."

"Saying things like that isn't cute, and not _all_ Jules' fault..." Antonio pouted, but his companions doubtful glower stayed put ( _Come the fuck on, bastard,_ Lovino thought at that moment, _I live with Ali; compared to her's, your pout looks like a gremlin's!_ ), "We were just trying to hit Franny, and-"

Actually, where _was_ Francis?

What if he was still asleep?

What if he had been _suffocated by a food avalanche!?_

Antonio mentally weighed the pros and cons of searching/rescuing his friend. Then Antonio mentally cursed himself for being so nice, because it was way too likely that Francis was fine, and that he would be getting himself messy for no reason, but _what if Franny was hurt?_

Antonio rolled his shoulders in preparation for going back out into that still-going-strong fight. "... I'll be right back."

"What?" Lovino grabbed Antonio's sleeve, shaking his head quickly, "Are you an idiot? Wait, I didn't need to ask that-just try to stop being an idiot for once, and just _stay here_ , dummy."

"Don't worry about me, I promise I'll come right back here to you in one piece, after I make sure that Franny's okay!" Antonio said as he gave Lovino what he hoped was a brave smile.

Lovino simultaneously dropped his hands, flushed, and looked away. "Don't act like you're going off to war, bastard; it's just a food fight."

And with as much of a blessing as he was going to get, Antonio was off.

* * *

Seven minutes later, Antonio made it back under the table, covered in _tomato sauce,_ of all things (He was actually pretty sure that that was Julchen's fault).

Francis had been fine, and he had teamed up with people. Apparently while he was hiding, the food fight had become a food war between two main alliances. Francis was one of five leaders on one side, along with Alfred F. Williams-Jones (Middle initial necessary), Braginskaya, Chun-Yan, and _Kirkland (_ Antonio had been pretty annoyed that Francis was ever teaming up with the Brit, but when he saw her aim, he realized that he probably would've made the same decision); the other group was led, surprisingly enough, by a quiet Japanese girl whose name escaped him. Second in command seemed to be either Elizaveta or Julchen, depending on who you asked, and there was also some kid from his middle school English class, Martin or something.

Antonio was asked his alliance almost immediately after leaving his sanctuary and, in interest of being a good friend, declared himself neutral. Neutral was apparently code for "He doesn't care, everyone hit him!".

Well, unless you were Vash Zwingli, since he had apparently yelled that he was neutral, and was still amazingly, completely spotless.

But he was _scary_ , and he had a fantastic arm too, so he didn't really count.

* * *

The first thing Antonio heard when he crawled under the table was a weird, strangled snorting noise. And then he heard the most beautiful noise in the world. Antonio had heard Lovino laugh-like genuine, not in a mean way _laugh-_ exactly three times, and each time was filed away in his memory.

And Antonio _did not_ have an obsession with Lovino, despite what certain "Prussian" people might have thought. Antonio just thought that he was super cute and that he had a beautiful laugh, was that so weird? (Since he had met Lovino, Antonio had gotten _really_ good at ignoring the part of his brain that said _yes, that is_ super _weird, and Julchen is probably right_ , because that part of his brain was _wrong_ ). It was just that...

Lovino looked different when he laughed.

His frown lines disappeared, and his eyes lit up-and you could really see the pretty honey color in them, it was really nice-and he looked a lot more like his age.

"Christ, what the hell happened out there?" Lovino managed between giggles, "It's been like _five minutes_ , God, how do you screw up this bad?"

"Is it really that bad?" Antonio asked as he picked at his food-stained shirt.

"No, no. Actually, y'know," Lovino's laughter died down and he wiped a stray tear from his eye, grin still in place, "That's a pretty good look for you, Antonio."

Antonio, caught up in the moment, because _wow_ , Lovino's smile was _so_ cute (And he meant that in the most _platonic_ way possible. _Right_.), thoughtlessly said, "That's a good look for you too, Lovi," elaborating after Lovino quirked his eyebrow in confusion, "The smiling thing. You look really cute!"

And just like that, the scowl was back, "Don't say such dumb shit, tomato bastard."

But hey, Lovino's cloudy glares just made his sunny smiles all the more precious, right?

(And it was a bit harder for Antonio to convince himself that that was meant completely platonically.)


	2. kiss me with everyone watching

_This one is the summer after freshman year, so. also it may or may not be based on events from my own life. (also, this was originally Lovino's first kiss. it has been recently edited. make of that what you will.)_

* * *

"Dare!" Antonio said because he was a fucking idiot.

"And your dare is," Julchen dragged out the _s_ while she pressed the dare button on the dumb app, as if she was some sort of evil albino potato snake, "You have to kiss the person to your right on the mouth!"

Oh hell no.

If they thought that that was going to fly, then they were damn wrong.

When everyone in the lopsided bonfire circle stared at Lovino, he wondered if he could convince a jury that throwing Julchen _and_ her dumb phone with its stupid truth or dare app into the fire was self-defense. _Probably not_ , he decided, _Especially since she could get everyone here to be her witness._

"Here" was Francis Bonnefoy's birthday extravaganza (Yes, he really called it that, and no, no one else did because that name was _so pretentious_ , its a fucking party), which was arguably one of the best parties of the year, only just ranked under the Beilschmidt's Halloween bash and Lovino's own New Year's party. As the night dragged on, more and more teens became enthralled in Francis' large number of video consoles and games. Those who weren't were either dancing, making out in some sleazy corner, or had been rounded up for a good old fashioned game of "Tell everyone here your deepest secret or preform an uncomfortable and probably sexual act for our entertainment", more commonly known as Truth or Dare.

"No." He said, straight to the point, because arguing with Julchen was hell and she always, for a reason unknown to _everyone_ , won.

"Yeah, Jules," someone yelled from across the circle, and Lovino couldn't tell who it was, but he wanted to send them a muffin basket or some shit, "Isn't that kind of... _gay_?"

Julchen actually considered it and _dear god_ , Lovino had never been more thankful for a stranger. "Hmm, I guess so... Guess we can change the dare." She lifted her finger over the refresh button, and just as she was about to press it, fucking _Guinevere_ had to open her mouth.

"Actually, if they say 'no homo', I think it cancels out all homoerotic intentions."

Oh, _fuck her_.

Julchen grinned and Lovino knew he was fucked. "Yeah! Just kiss and say 'no homo' and it'll all be awesome!"

Lovino glared at his triumphantly smirking childhood friend. "Tomato bastard, you better fucking take the penalty."

Antonio nodded, puffing out his chest like he had just promised to rescue Lovino from some dragon, not just a really embarrassing dare.

"As gamemaster, I declare the penalty to be a lap around the house!" Lovino very nearly sighed in relief before Julchen smirked, "Naked."

Julchen was, Lovino decided at that moment, trying to get him to snap. That was the only explanation. Regardless, Lovino almost, _almost_ , used the ridiculous amount of power he had over the Spaniard to force him to do it, dignity be damned, but then Antonio turned those dumb puppy eyes on him and, contrary to popular belief, Lovino was not _completely_ heartless.

"Fine. Hurry the fuck up with it though."

But Antonio, the dumb fuck, didn't hurry the fuck up with it. He gently took Lovino's face, stroking a calloused thumb against his cheekbone, closed his dumb, blindingly bright eyes even though Lovino's were still open with surprise because _why was this taking so long why isn't it over yet?_ , and placed a soft, so soft, kiss onto Lovino's lips; a kiss that lasted a microsecond too long and the only thought that ran through Lovino's head was,

 _Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit i just kissed my best friend my best friend just kissed me oh my god nononononono shit._

And Antonio just fucking _smiled_ at him, with the firelight making his eyes sparkle and his skin look even more flawless then normal and white _white_ teeth shine, and very nearly whispered, "No homo, right Lovi?"

"Y-yeah. No homo," Lovino croaked out, hoping that the darkness would cover his flaming blush.

He was _fucked_.


	3. Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match

_I am here from school hell and to get back in the writing swing of things, have a drabbles about how Lovino fell/was pushed into his infamous matchmaker role. mostly lovi-centric, bg ships (the matches: Seychelles/Australia, Swissbel, Poliet, Aushun, Dennor) and the ever-constant bg radiation of spamano. This also feature genderfluid poland (called F, bc they wear gender-signifying barrettes and Lovi can't see them) and transboy norway who uses fae pronouns. neither of those things were planned, but im still psyched as that they happened. one day ill write a gsa mini-fic where all the queer characters get to make proper appearances_

 _placement-wise, this fic happens before and during lovi's 1t semester of freshman year_

 _xoxo pls enjoy!_

* * *

 ** _1._**

The shade is perfectly cool, the sky is blue, and the picnic blanket spread nearby is nearly the same color as the red that rings Chell's still watery eyes.

 _Is crying normal for break ups?_ Lovino wonders, mildly panicked. On TV they always showed the girl crying later, long after the guy was gone, so Lovino hadn't been prepared for Chell to burst into tears when he said 'we need to talk'.

"Look, it's honestly nothing against you, I just know that you'd be happier with someone else."

Chell glares up at Lovino, her anger surprisingly well focused for someone who was crying less than five minutes ago.

"Is this some kind of new version of the 'It's not you, it's me' speech? Because you don't have to let me down easy."

"No, hell no, seriously! Look, it's just that-" Lovino sighs. This is dumb; normal guys don't break up with their super cute girlfriends just because said girlfriend's best friend has a (painfully obvious) crush on her. This is the exact _opposite_ of a romcom cliche. This is _so dumb_.

And yet, here he is.

"You know your friend, Oz?" He asks, because he doesn't really know what he's doing and that's as good a place as any to start.

Chell's eyes spark with indignation and anger and _there it is_ , the _'Oz is_ really _special to me'_ vibe is the other reason that Lovino couldn't keep dating her, not when he knew. "Are you breaking up with me because you're _jealous_ of my-"

"Crush." Lovino cuts her off and finishes her sentence. Her eyes widen and her cheeks darken and she takes a breath, probably to deny it, so Lovino starts to talk again before she can. "Hand to God, bella, this is more 'you're into someone else and I'm not going to hold you back' than a pity break up, okay?"

Chell nods mutely, flushing ever darker. Lovino nods back, smiling at her. "For what it's worth, we can still be friends?"

For the first time in the conversation, Chell smiles. "I'd like that."

Lovino starts to walk away because that's it, he's done his good deed of the day, awakened Chell to her own feelings, it's over, right?

"A-And Lovino," Chell calls after him and his mind urges him to both _Turn around, turn around and help her_ and _Oh my god keep walking, please_. The latter side loses, but he doesn't completely turn around so the former side doesn't exactly win. Yet. "Do you think-"

"He likes you. Definitely. I could-" Lovino sighs inwardly, squeezing his eyes shut before giving in and turning back. "I could give you some suggestions for asking him out and dates? There are some places that I think he'd like. Or something."

Chell lights up like he just promised her the moon or some shit. _I'll just stay for a second, get all my guilt out, and leave_ , he tells himself.

(They spend the rest of the afternoon munching on the picnic lunch that Chell had made and ironing out her confession plans. Lovino stays even after Chell gives him an easy way out. He doesn't want to think about what it implies.)

* * *

 ** _2._**

"Well, if it isn't my _favorite_ Italian," A feminine voice purrs, a shadow falling over Lovino's desk. Lovino inwardly groans.

"Technically I'm American, Italian-American at the most," Lovino looks up at Lotte, taking in her 'innocent' smile and the box of (probably homemade, probably delicious) chocolates. "And whatever it is, the answer's no."

Lotte pouts, "But I haven't even asked you yet! Plus, I can help you out too! I can tell you things about Antonio."

"You think that's a selling point, but I don't feel any more compelled to help you." Lovino raises an unimpressed brow, despite the flush that has creeped up his neck. "And besides, Antonio and I are _friends_ , so I could ask him things myself if I wanted to."

"I just want to know if you can work your love magic for me!" She whines, and Lovino's heart stops.

"What."

Lotte glances at his now pallid face. "I was talking to Chelly and Alejandra and a few other girls that you dated, and they said that you helped them get together with their super-parfaite boyfriends, so I thought I'd give it a try. And I had thought you'd help, since I've known you since forever-"

"We met two summers ago."

"Which was _basically_ forever ago." She insists, "The point is, you didn't even offer to help me! Is it a dating thing, do I have to kiss you to be in the running for matchmaking? Because I mean, you're not my type, but I'll do it."

Lovino rolls his eyes. "It's not matchmaking, I was just pointing out that they'd be happier if they were with someone else."

"Well then, I want you to 'point out' that Vash Zwingli would be extremely happy with me. We're in the same home ec. class and I've been flirting with him all semester and Lily says he has a crush on me, so I need your help."

"I don't talk to Vash Zwingli."

And no, Lovino didn't respond unnaturally quickly and he didn't pale at all, shut up.

"See, that's what everyone keeps saying, but Vash is a sweetheart!"

"Lotte, he nearly stabbed me for even saying hi to his sister."

Lotte waves her hand as if dispelling the words from the air, "He's just protective. Surely you can understand that, Mr. Scare-away-anyone-who's-ever- into-my-sister-ever."

"That's _different_. And besides," Lovino sighs, "I actually don't even know him."

Lotte pouts, like injured puppy level pouting, and Lovino's about to say something when the scary looking girl who sits next to him speaks.

"I know Vash. I could… help?" She shrugs, "I just need one favor. From Lovino."

He's shocked because he knows Guinevere Kirkland, they went to rich kid play dates together back before Italy, but she's been pointedly Not Talking to him all year. He recovers and says, "If it's a car or something, I'm going to need at least three we-"

"I need you to promise me that you won't match me. Ever." Lovino blinks at her and she shrugs. "I have a feeling that this thing is going to blow up for you, and I don't want to be caught in the blast. But I'll keep you posted on the car thing."

Lovino nods, sticking out his hand for a handshake. "Deal, I promise not to match you, Gwen."

She glares, "It's Guinevere. If you call me 'Gwen', I'll start calling you 'Lovi'."

"Got it, Guinevere."

They shake and Lovino has the weirdest feeling, like this is some significant event. He brushes it off.

(Three days later Lovino is accosted by Lotte in first bell again, this time to be viciously thanked with chocolates and cheese and annoyingly bright red lipstick stains on his cheeks. He splits the spoils with Guinevere without prompting and she stops glaring at and/or ignoring him all the time.

He vaguely wonders if this is how normal friendships are made.)

* * *

 ** _3._**

Toris looks up from his chromosome matching, gazes - like _literally_ gazes, with heartfelt intent and everything, it's sickeningly cute - at the ponytail of a certain genderfluid Polish student, and looks back down.

This pattern has been happening on and off for the last month and a half, the whole 'super secret wistful looks' thing, and Lovino can't stand it.

Not like, because Lovino's a homophobe or anything, because he definitely isn't. He's chill as fuck with gays; hell, he loves queer people.

In the most no-homo, totally straight way possible.

Right.

 _Anyway_ , the point is that Lovino can't stand this because the tension is literally killing him. Because it's not be enough that Toris keeps sighing over (Lovino glances at the Pole, but he can't see the gender-signifying barrettes. 'F' it is then) F, but F has done the exact same thing from the back of their English class all semester. It's infuriating and annoying and Lovino wishes someone would just push their idiot heads together and make them kiss already.

"Can you pass me the ruler?" Toris asks, shocking Lovino out of his thoughts."

Lovino passes him the tool and then - completely accidentally, his mouth is working without his brain's consent because his mouth obviously hates the rest of him - he says, "You know, if you asked them out, they'd definitely say yes."

Toris jolts, bumping the table and sending his carefully cut out DNA strands to the ground. "I- What?"

"Actually, they'd probably say 'Oh-em-gee, Tor, like, totally!' but that's neither here nor there," Lovino looks up after a few beats of silence and rolls his eyes at Toris' shocked face. "There's one person in this school who doesn't notice the way you look at F, and it's them. It's honestly kind of fitting, since you don't seem to notice how they look at you either."

"R-Really?"

Lovino gives him a pointed look.

Toris worries his lip and, even if he won't ever admit it, this is slowly becoming Lovino's favorite part of this - the uncertainty and doubt becoming slowly replaced by the bright glow of hope, the way that he can almost feel him realizing what everyone else already knows. It's sappy and dumb, but it brings a flare of satisfaction to Lovino's chest.

"Do you really think they'd say yes?"

Lovino raises a single eyebrow. "Is the sky blue?"

Toris rubs his neck self consciously and they both go back to their work. It isn't until right before the bell that Toris turns back to him.

"Thank you, by the way. And, for what it's worth, I think yours would say yes too, if you asked."

"'My' _what_?" Lovino asks, a dark warning glare in place.

Toris raises his hands defensively, "Sorry, sorry, forget I said anything."

"Forgotten already," Lovino huffs as the bell ring and he gets up so he can hurry out of the classroom and through the halls to meet Antonio before next bell.

(The next week, he walks into English to F singing his praises, how he's "The best matchmaker _ever_ , oh my god you guys; without him, me and Tor would've been stumbling around each other for, like, ever."

Despite the warm and tingly job-well-done feeling, Lovino wonders how it came to someone calling what Lovino was doing matchmaking; he was just opening the eyes of people who were too dumb to see how in love they were by themselves.

 _And besides_ , he thinks, _I've only helped three couples. Three!_ )

* * *

 ** _4._**

"-Four, five, six, seven..."

Elizaveta Héderváry counts her lifts. Lovino is 'spotting' for her even though there's no way that he could be of any help if she accidentally dropped the bar because Lovino can barely bench the 50 pound bar, much less the bar plus the 50 pounds that she's added.

He feels incredibly impressed, horribly inadequate, and vaguely infatuated.

Teenage emotions are weird.

When she gets to twenty, she puts the bar down - not because she can't do more, but because the gym teacher told her that she's not allowed to do more than 20 reps of any one exercise before she finishes one complete circuit.

"Thanks, Lovino," Elizaveta says, taking a sip of her water. Like seriously, one sip. She's not even sweating _at all_ after benching 100 pounds. What the _hell_.

He notices that she seems to be waiting for a response and shrugs, "I didn't really do anything."

"Hm, you're right, you didn't," And what? That's a mood whiplash if Lovino's ever seen it. "So you should probably do something for me, to even out stuff since I already said thank you."

"What?"

"Word on the block is that you're fairly good at helping people with crushes."

"What."

"I need you to get Roderich to man up and ask me out, because it'll harm his fragile ego if I ask him out."

" _What?_ "

She shoots him a look, and it's even more intimidating because she's holding a 40 lbs medicine ball like it weighs nothing. "You're awfully repetitive, aren't you? You can help right? Lotte said you could."

 _God fucking damn it,_ Lovino thinks, _Lotte is going to owe me so many favors._ Lovino could just tell her that he can't do it and be done, but she's _really strong_ and _really scary_ so instead he says, "I mean, maybe? Give me a second."

Lovino grabs his phone and shoots a quick _**Need help, do you know piano potato?**_ to Guinevere. It's responded to with _**Don't call him that, and yes.**_

"Okay, I got it," Lovino turns back to Elizaveta and she looks almost creepily pleased, "What's the best way to approach him? Because like hell am I going up to him and saying 'hi, grow a pair and ask Elizaveta out, thanks'."

Elizaveta, surprisingly enough, laughs. "You used to play violin, right? Talk to him about music."

He nods and she continues to smile at him for the rest of class. It's slightly unnerving.

(The next day, she tells him that he can call her 'big sister' or 'Liz', and she starts grinning and waving in the halls, and she's suddenly _really_ coddling and sweet and nice all the time, like "calling him adorable when the _whole class_ can hear her" nice.

Lovino is mildly concerned, breathtakingly embarrassed, and sort of happy.

It's weird.)

* * *

 ** _5._**

It's been awhile since someone asked him for "matchmaking" favors, so Lovino thinks anyone would forgive him for freaking out when Mathias Kohler comes up to his table at lunch and yells, "Lovino, I need you to kiss me!"

Everything at his table is shocked into silence. There's a sharp snap of a plastic utensil breaking. Anya starts giggling.

"What?" And no, Lovino's voice does not crack, shut up. "Why would you- I- How did- _What?_ "

Mathias begins bouncing excitedly, "I was talking to Anya and she said that you matched people who you've dated. Kissing is basically like dating, right? So that's why I need you to kiss me."

Lovino turns around to glare at Anya because what the _fuck_. Her sunny smile is more terrifying than he could ever hope his glare would be. He turns back around.

"You don't need to kiss Lovi," Antonio says and hey, Lovino had forgotten that he was there. He's holding half of a fork in his hand. "I'm sure you're making him uncomfortable, please leave and never speak to Lovi _ever again_."

"Whoa dude, chill, I'm not trying to take your-" Mathias looks at a spot a bit behind Lovino. Lovino glances back and only sees Dmitri and Chun-yan smiling. "Your friend. I'm not trying to take your _friend_ , was what I was going to say and is all I'll ever say. _Anyway_ , I don't even care about the kiss, I just want you to work your cool love magic on me!"

"It's _not_ magic, Jesus fucking Christ, who keeps spreading that around? And why do you need to get…" Lovino is reluctant to use the word. He still doesn't think what he's doing is matchmaking. He's seen enough bad romcoms and he's memorized enough of Hitch to know that what he's doing definitely isn't conventional matchmaking. " _Matched_ anyway? Aren't you dating Lu-" He wants to say Lucia, but he's pretty sure that they're using a different name these days.

"Lukas." Mathias flawlessly finishes, like this is a normal occurrence. "But hey, you thought we were dating? Dude, you're the best; if people think we're dating, then there's a huge chance that _fae_ think we're dating too! Man, thanks for opening my eyes, or else fae probably would've been _pissed_."

And he's off in the same way he arrived - quickly and loudly.

Lovino isn't exactly sure what just happened.

After a moment of silence, he stands to go get Antonio a new fork. He hopes that Lukas and Mathias are happy.

(They are.

Lukas is, surprisingly enough, the one that actually credits Lovino with getting them together (Mathias likes to tell people that it was all him. No one believes him) and fae give Lovino a bunch of magic-themed books that Lovino immediately shares with Guinevere (even if she says that she's not into that stuff anymore, because he _knows_ that she still doodles Flying Mint Bunny on her notes). Mathias Kohler has a big mouth though, and the stories begin to spread even faster than before, faster than even the juiciest gossip. "Lovino is a pro matchmaker!" the students say, and more and more people come ask him for matchmaking help. Lovino only turns away those with completely lost cases. He doesn't like to think about what this implies about him and his compassionate streak.

He _is_ happier these days, despite it all.)


End file.
